PVCC FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
Disclaimer

Presentation:
    Student Leadership - Paul Dale, Jim Rubin
        Jim and Paul presented the PVCC Emerging Leader Program to the Senate.  This program has been designed to create an environment for selected students to discover their leadership abilities through high level training and social service project work.  This program will be piloted in the Spring and students can participate by enrolling in a 2-credit CPD course (transferable as an elective), or they may choose to participate without earning credit.  A flyer, an invitation for faculty to nominate outstanding students to participate in the program, and a student application will be distributed to all faculty via intercampus mail.  Faculty can either forward the names of those students that they believe would benefit from this program directly to Paul Dale, or they can give students an application to submit to the office of Student Life.  Nominations are requested by December 11, 1997, but will be accepted beyond this due date.

    Faculty Advisement - Rick Conchos, Carmen Marquez, Jeanne Franco, Shelle Witten, (Fred Wieck-absent).
        The Faculty Advisement Senate Sub-Committee presented a proposal that they recommend as an alternative to the current Faculty Advisement Program (10 advising hours of accountability per semester).  The "Faculty Liaison" proposal calls for each division to identify a faculty member to serve as a Faculty Advising Liaison (FAL) to enhance communication and collaboration between the divisions and the Advisement Center.  FAL activities will include communicating information between the Advisement Center and divisions through meetings, individual conferences and memos, as well as attending scheduled training updates.  FALs will receive compensation equivalent to .5 load hours per semester in their role as liaison.  In addition, FALs may elect to complete an advising project and be compensated up to a maximum of 2.5 additional overload/extended contract hours, by approval of the Advising Coordinator.  This recommendation does not preclude the voluntary continuation of individual faculty members advising and mentoring students within their discipline areas.
    The Faculty Liaison Proposal was placed on the senate agenda for discussion.

Members Present: Ron Brooker, Muriel Coil, Marilyn Cristiano, Mitzi Ferrell, Jeanne Franco, Abby Hemingway, Sherry Loch, Carmen Marquez, Gary Quick, Steve Platte, Sally Rings.

Guests: Hedy Fossenkemper, Patti Marsh, Donna Mosher

Members Absent: Tom Butler, Lynn Lalko, Fred Wieck

1.   Call To Order/Approval of Agenda
  The Senate meeting was called to order at 3:35pm
 
  Agenda additions/deletions
    Old Business - add Faculty Hiring Process - Sally Rings
    add Faculty Advising Proposal - Senate
    add International House - Sally Rings
    delete - Scholarship Fund Raiser (to be reported on within the Treasurer's report)
    delete - AAUP
  The Agenda was approved as amended.

2. Approval of Minutes 11/6/97
 
    The 11/6/97 minutes were approved as submitted.
 

3. Campus Reports

3.1.  Enrollment Management - Bob Bendotti (reported by Sally Rings)
        The return rate for the Noel Levitz survey was surprising low.    The Senate recommended that faculty whose students did not return the survey take measures to obtain the completed surveys from those students.
 
3.2.  Curriculum - Marilyn Cristiano
        On Thursday, December 11, the PVCC Curriculum Committee will meet to prioritize the criteria/drivers and make choices among scenarios for degree requirements.  If you have input, talk with your Curriculum Committee representative or Marilyn Cristiano.

3.3.  Faculty Development - Marilyn Cristiano
        There will be a MCCCD Faculty Convocation at Phoenix College on Friday, January 9, 1998, and the Faculty Development Committee strongly urges that all PVCC Faculty attend.  There will be a PVCC all-employee meeting on Monday, January 12, 1998, with breakfast at 7:30am and the meeting from 8:00am to 9:15am.  All-employees are required to attend, and those faculty who can not attend you should contact their Division Chair prior to the meeting.  In light of the fact that faculty will be attending the Convocation on January 9, there will be no Faculty Retreat scheduled for January 12, but there are two technology training options that will be available from 9:30am to noon on Monday, January 12, after the all-employee meeting.  The training options are "Researching Using the WWW" and a panel presentation and discussion on "Using the Internet in the Classroom."  Seating will be limited and sign-up required.  More information about these training options is available at (Sally, I need to get the address), and an A-1 announcement is forthcoming.
 

4.1.  Treasurer/Membership - Mitzi Ferrell
        Mitzi reported that the combined balances in the Association checking and savings accounts are $5,771.65.  This represents an addition of $1,323.50 to the Scholarship Fund from the fundraiser, for a total of $2,205.50  in the Faculty Association Scholarship Fund, $517.50 in encumbered funds and $3,048.65 in the Association General Fund.
        Mitzi also reported that 49 of 57 PVCC faculty members have joined the MCCCD Faculty Association with 3 other faculty members on sabbatical.  This represents 82% participation.
 

4.2.  Secretary - Jeanne Franco
          The Senate Web Site is completed.  Please visit it at www2.pvc.maricopa.edu/senate/   and give comments.

4.3.  President-Elect - Steve Platte
            One of my goals for the future is to improve the communication among faculty and to build a more substantial atmosphere of trust.  A recent incident illustrates my concerns in these areas.  At the Faculty Executive Council (FEC) meeting on October 28, 1997, faculty representatives from Glendale Community College gave a report on the efforts of the GCC faculty to resolve a serious crisis with the college president. At the conclusion of this discussion I made a motion that the FEC go on record supporting the GCC Faculty Senate in regard to this matter. The purpose of the motion was to show collegiality and solidarity with our colleagues at GCC and was not a direct vote on any particular motion generated by the GCC Faculty Senate. The motion passed.
 
Apparently this motion was controversial or misunderstood (or both) because at the 11/25/97 FEC meeting there was an agenda item, brought by PVCC, to reconsider FEC support for GCC faculty. The FEC again decided that it was appropriate for the FEC to vote on this motion. Now I recognize and support the right of faculty members to ask for items to be brought before the FEC, and I respect opposing points of view, but I am disappointed that no attempt was made to talk to me, the author of the motion, before taking the request for reconsideration to the FEC. In my opinion PVCC looked very bad in the eyes of the FEC on this matter. My hope is that in the future faculty members would feel free to discuss matters with the parties involved before appealing to higher authorities.
 
4.4.  President - Sally Rings

From President's Cabinet:
    1.  Dr. Cardenas commended Bob Bendotti for his co-authoring the monograph Learning @ maricopa.edu.  He also commended the Faculty Staffing Advisory committee and the Budget Advisory committee for their work.
    2.  The Hope Scholarship, President Clinton's plan to give tax credits to middle-income families for college tuition, takes effect January 1, 1998.  As a result, it is in students' best interest to delay paying for classes until after January 1.  A&R is currently looking into the possibility of reimbursing students who have already paid and re-enrolling them after January 1.  Efforts will be made to get this information out to students.  We can expect "unclean" rosters at the beginning of the semester due to drop/ads and late payments.
    3.  Anne Eller reported that the Volunteer Fair was a huge success; participating agencies had many sign up to volunteer.  The car show was also a very successful fundraising event for the food bank.  There has been a tremendous response on the PVCC campus to volunteer in the community.
    4.  The President's Cabinet was pleased with the Senate's decision to grant Emeritus status to retiring faculty and administrators who meet the criteria.
    5.  The Senate and student support for fundraising activities to provide art for the new classroom building has been referred to the campus arts committee.  Dr. Cardenas has met with Ana Thiel, whose work is under consideration for purchase.

From Faculty Executive Council:
    1.  A motion was made that the council let Faculty Association members at large vote on whether to continue membership with AAUP.  After discussion, the motion was postponed until Council members are ready to present all information to Faculty Association members.
    2.  The faculty Meet and Confer team will meet with the administration team on December 11 to present proposals.  Topics included in the faculty's proposals for changing the RFP are evaluation (including the Faculty Evaluation Plan), non-renewal of faculty, professional growth policy (PG guidelines will continue to be outlined in the Professional Growth Guidelines document.), clerical support for division/department chairs, calculating FTSE on all students, not just day students, calculating both lecture and lab hours on a one-to-one basis.
    3.  The primary issues that CFAC (Chancellor's Financial Advisory Committee) is dealing with are (1) figuring out how budget decisions fit with the Governing Board's end statements and (2) figuring out how to measure things.
    4.  EBAC (Employee Benefits Advisory Committee) wants to propose that leaves of absence for all policy groups be consistent.
 

5.1.  Professional Growth - John Nelson
        No report.
 

6.1. Faculty Hiring Procedures - Sally Rings
    Sally met with Dr. Cardenas re:  our suggestions for revisions to faculty hiring procedures.  Sally presented to him the four suggestions what we had developed at our November meeting:
The President participates with the faculty committee in establishing the hiring criteria.
The President participates in the interviewing of candidates.
If the President does not endorse the finalists presented to him by the committee, he explains to the committee his rationale.
Before the committee sends the names of finalists forward, they meet with the President and give their rationale for the finalists.
    Dr. Cardenas received the suggestions positively and was drawn to the suggestion that the president participate in establishing hiring criteria for faculty positions.  He indicated that we would talk further in early spring.
 
6.2.  Book Loan Fund - Donna Mosher
    Donna presented a draft of a Student Book Loan Program including eligibility criteria and an awarding process.  The Senate discussed the draft and expressed many concerns.  Donna made note of the Senators' concerns and will bring a report back to Fred Wieck, the draft's originator, for reconsideration.  This item will be discussed again at the next Senate meeting.

6.3.  Faculty Advisory Process - Senate
    The Senate discussed the earlier presentation/recommendation brought by the Faculty Advisement Senate Sub-Committee for an alternative program of division advisement liaisons.  A motion was made to adopt the recommendation and to have Sally present the Senate recommendation to Dr. Cardenas in conjunction with Rick Conchos and his proposal for additional advisor support for advisement.  The motion carried by a vote of 9 in favor, 0 opposed, 2 abstentions (Abby Hemingway and Sherry Loch).

7.1. Committee Re-Design - Travel & PR&R - Sally Rings
    Currently the Travel, Professional Rights and Responsibilities and Staffing committees are being treated as standing Senate committees.  The Senate Constitution, however, specifically states that there are to be no standing committees of the Senate.  This discrepancy was discussed and this item was tabled to be discussed again at the next Senate meeting.

 
7.2. Revision of Staffing Guidelines -Donna Mosher
    Donna reported that the Staffing Committee is currently working on a revision to the Staffing Committee Guidelines to include a revision of the current timelines.  A committee member will be making a report to the Senate and asking for approval as soon as these revisions have been drafted.

 7.3. Professional Growth for OYO Faculty - Marilyn Cristiano
    Marilyn brought forth the issue of unfairness to OYO faculty members of our current Professional Growth policy.  Both full-time, Board-approved and part-time faculty are eligible for professional growth monies, but OYO faculty members are not.  It was suggested that this issue be brought before the District Association Exec. Council when the next round of Meet and Confer issues is called for.  Sally made a note to do that.

 
7.4.  Office Space in M Building - Jeanne Franco
    Jeanne, in response to constituent concerns, brought forth the issue of the assigning of office space in M building for the fall of 1998.  This issue has never been formally discussed among faculty, yet it has come up as a "request of intent" at a division chair meeting.  It was felt that if faculty want to have  input into the decisions being made in relation to who will be housed in M building and what is best for students and faculty alike, perhaps we should have some formal discussions and let our collective voices be heard.  It was voted to table this item for further discussion at the next Senate meeting.

7.5  International House - Sally Rings
    Dr. Cardenas asked for feedback re: the possibility of having an international house on the PVCC campus.  The purpose would be to house exchange students and exchange faculty as well as to provide space for conferences with an international focus.  Dr. Cardenas has talked with Dr. Elsner about this, and he is supportive.  Dr. Stahl will be getting information to faculty soon for their response.
    Senators expressed concern that our current construction be completed and new facilities be adequately staffed before a new construction project would begin.  There was also concern re:  funding sources.  If outside funding is obtained, for how long might it support the operations of an international house?  Would the campus need to assume funding responsibilities at some point?  The third concern expressed was about providing housing to some students but not other (non-international) students who are needy.  Another question related to providing housing was whether it is appropriate (or even legal) to use District funds for housing.  In general, the concept of an international house was supported if the questions and concerns could be addressed adequately.
 

Respectfully Submitted by
  Jeanne Franco
  Senate Secretary